Logical operations with Localized Structures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how localized structures in nonlinear photonic devices can be used to perform fundamental logical operations like AND, OR, and NOT, enabling reconfigurable all-optical computing with potential for parallel processing.

Contribution

It introduces a general scheme for implementing logical gates using localized structures in any physical system, especially in nonlinear photonics, for all-optical computing.

Findings

Localized structures can perform logical operations

Scheme is applicable to various physical systems

Enables parallel all-optical computing

Abstract

We show how to exploit excitable regimes mediated by localized structures (LS) to perform AND, OR, and NOT logical operations providing full logical functionality. Our scheme is general and can be implemented in any physical system displaying LS. In particular, LS in nonlinear photonic devices can be used for all-optical computing applications where several reconfigurable logic gates can be implemented in the transverse plane of a single device, allowing for parallel computing.